» On 8/12/2026 09:10:00 PM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Volvo Cars app doesn't show location address? 

My Volvo Cars app wasn't showing the location address, so I looked in the app and tried to follow their instructions. Major fail. Then I did a Google search. Still no joy. Finally, I worked out the steps for myself and followed them on the 2026 XC60's screen:
Settings
Profiles (choose, then back)
System
Applications
Show all apps
Driving journal
Permissions
Location
Allow all the time (exit)
(repeat fot other Profiles)

Labels: volvo

 
» On 5/01/2021 12:30:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Are Volvo Programmers Really That Stupid? 

We recently traded in two cars and bought a Volvo. Fancy car. Nicest car we've ever owned. Plus, it's a computer on wheels. Everything's automatic. Except the clock. Bizarre. And annoying. So I started tweeting at the company:

1) @volvocars Can your software engineers solve the Arizona clock issue? The only way I can get the correct time in my XC40 is by setting it manually. Your team is aware of this malfunction:
http://volvo.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9546/~/setting-the-clock
"Note: Automatic time may not display the correct time in Arizona."

1r) Replying to @acbaird Hi Alan, unfortunately since Arizona does not have daylight saving time the clock must be adjusted manually.

>>Bzzzzt. Wrong answer, Volvo. Your patronizing condescension has simply pissed me off:

2) @volvocars has 3 dealers in Phoenix, plus 1 more in Tucson, so I assume you sell at least a few cars here in Arizona. And every other company in the world has learned how to adjust for AZ time. Aren't you ashamed to admit your software geeks can't figure out this simple problem?

>>After a couple of hours, I decided that wasn't vicious enough. So my latest tweet includes screengrabs. 😉

3) @volvocars L: Windows, R: iPhone. Google Maps and Waze are able to display Arizona time, based on GPS data. My Mazda, VW and Toyota could all figure out the correct time from GPS. But my Volvo clock loses THREE MINUTES EVERY MONTH because it must be set manually. Embarrassed yet?

>>You can see that I'm on a holy crusade for oppressed Volvo owners everywhere. 😉


Setting the Volvo Clock in the Good Ol' Arizona Summertime.
Swipe down on the Home screen, tap "Settings" at the top left, tap "System" at the bottom, tap "Date and Time" near the top, tap "Location", tap "U.S. Mountain Time" after scrolling way down near the bottom, tap "Back", uncheck "Auto Daylight Saving Time", uncheck "Auto Time", manually set the Time, tap "Back" and push the "Home" button.
I've discovered that the manual Time setting needs to be updated weekly, in order to keep the clock reasonably accurate. There's a video about this, on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/CourtesyVolvo/posts/3098066620236304
NOTE: NONE OF THIS MANUAL WORKAROUND IS NECESSARY. CHEAPER CARS SET THEIR CLOCKS AUTOMATICALLY. A LUXURY CAR LIKE VOLVO SHOULD DO THIS, TOO, BUT THE VOLVO CORPORATION FEELS NO SHAME. The company is treating its Arizona customers like crap. Volvo now has three dealerships in Phoenix and one in Tucson, so they're selling a sh*tload of cars here. But unless every Volvo owner in Arizona complains to his/her dealership, and every AZ dealership complains to company headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, the malfunction won't get fixed. The irony is this: Volvo would need to invest only TEN MINUTES of programming time to make things right. (I use three different programming languages, so I know whereof I speak.) Instead, the company arrogantly forces its Arizona customers to perform this useless and frustrating Hokey-Pokey for nearly eight months every year. UPDATE: Many Volvo owners are already complaining about this issue online. Oh, and here too.
LATER: The Tuba Time Warp Challenge. If Volvo programmers can design a car clock that's able to automatically adjust to the correct time(s) for the entire 108 miles between Tuba City and Steamboat Canyon on Arizona Route 264 during Daylight Saving Time, then all is forgiven. 😉

Labels: volvo

 
» On 5/17/2010 05:05:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
George Carlin saves the planet.

Video clip transcription from the Jammin' in New York DVD:

You got people like this around you? Country is full of 'em now. People walking around all day long, every minute of the day -- worried about EVERYTHING! Worried about the air, worried about the water, worried about the soil. Worried about insecticides, pesticides, food additives, carcinogens; worried about radon gas; worried about asbestos. Worried about saving endangered species.

Let me tell you about endangered species, all right? Saving endangered species is just one more arrogant attempt by humans to control Nature. It's arrogant meddling. It's what got us in trouble in the first place. Doesn't anybody understand that? Interfering with Nature! Over 90 percent... over... WAY over... 90 percent of all the species that have ever lived on this planet -- EVER LIVED -- are gone. Whsssht! They're extinct. We didn't kill them ALL!

They just... disappeared. That's what Nature does. They disappear these days at the rate of 25 a day, and I mean regardless of our behavior. Irrespective of how we act on this planet, 25 species that were here today will be gone tomorrow. Let them go gracefully. Leave Nature alone. Haven't we done enough?!

We're so self-important. So self-important. Everybody's going to save something now. "Save the trees; save the bees; save the whales; save those snails." And the greatest arrogance of all: "Save the planet." WHAT? Are these fucking people kidding me? Save the planet? We don't even know how to take care of ourselves yet. We haven't learned how to care for one another; we're gonna save the fucking planet?

I'm getting tired of that shit. Tired of that shit. Tired! I'm tired of fucking Earth Day. I'm tired of these self-righteous environmentalists; these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is there aren't enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world safe for their Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don't give a shit about the planet. They don't care about the planet. Not in the abstract, they don't. Not in the abstract, they don't. You know what they're interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They're worried that some day in the future, they might be personally inconvenienced. Narrow, unenlightened self-interest doesn't impress me.

Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are fucked! Difference. Difference. The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doin' great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We've been here, what? A hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we've only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we're a threat? That somehow we're gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that's just a-floatin' around the sun?

The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles, hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages... and we think some plastic bags and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet... the planet... the planet isn't going anywhere. WE are!

We're going away. Pack your shit, folks. We're going away. And we won't leave much of a trace, either. Thank God for that. Maybe a little styrofoam. Maybe. A little styrofoam. The planet will be here and we'll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet will shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance. F-f-f-f-f.

You wanna know how the planet's doing? Ask those people at Pompeii, who are frozen into position from volcanic ash. How the planet's doing... you wanna know if the planet's all right, ask those people in Mexico City or Armenia or a hundred other places buried under thousands of tons of earthquake rubble, if they feel like a threat to the planet this week. Or how about those people in Kilauea, Hawaii, who built their homes right next to an active volcano, and then wonder why they have lava in the living room.

The planet will be here for a long, long -- LONG -- time after we're gone, and it will heal itself. It will cleanse itself, because that's what it does. It's a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed; and, if it's true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm: The-Earth-Plus-Plastic. The Earth doesn't share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came out of the Earth. The Earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the Earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn't know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old philosophical question, "Why are we here?"

"Plastic... assholes!"

So. So, the plastic is here, our job is done, we can be phased out now. And I think that's really started already, don't you? I mean, to be fair, the planet probably sees us as a mild threat. Something to be dealt with. And I'm sure the planet will defend itself in the manner of a large organism, like a beehive or an ant colony can muster a defense. I'm sure the planet will think of something. What would you do, if you were the planet trying to defend against this pesky, troublesome species? "Let's see... what might... hmm... viruses! Viruses might be good. They seem vulnerable to viruses. And, uh... viruses are tricky, always mutating and forming new strains whenever a vaccine is developed. Perhaps this first virus could be one that compromises the immune system of these creatures. Perhaps a human immunodeficiency virus, making them vulnerable to all sorts of other diseases and infections that might come along. And maybe it could be spread sexually, making them a little reluctant to engage in the act of reproduction."

Well, that's a poetic note. And it's a start. And I can dream, can't I? See, I don't worry about the little things: bees, trees, whales, snails. I think we're part of a greater wisdom than we will ever understand. A higher order. Call it what you want. Know what I call it? "The Big Electron." The Big Electron... whoooa. Whoooa. Whoooa. It doesn't punish, it doesn't reward, it doesn't judge at all. It just is.

And so are we. For a little while.

Thanks for being here with me for a little while tonight.

Labels: volvo